• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.311-335
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• 2008

The importance of students' precise understanding of mathematical definitions, formulas, and theorems can not be underestimated. In this survey research, we attempted to evaluate students' understanding of the concepts of five topics -limit, continuity and intermediate theorem, derivative, application of derivative and integral. On the basis of the research result, this paper suggests that we need to 1) be more inventive and speculative in making test problems, 2) explain the examples and counter-examples more concretely, 3) stress and repeat the basic concepts on the stage of introducing new concepts, 4) develop more effective problems for the measure of students' understanding of mathematical concepts, 5) use developed problems in actual teaching.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.920-932
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• 2010

Many topics in science, especially, abstract concepts, relationships, properties, entities in invisible ranges, are described in mathematical representations such as formula, numbers, symbols, and graphs. Although the mathematical representation is an essential tool to better understand scientific phenomena, the mathematical element is pointed out as a reason for learning difficulty and losing interests in science. In order to further investigate the relationship between mathematics knowledge and science understanding, the current study examined 793 high school students' understanding of the pH value. As a measure of the molar concentration of hydrogen ions in the solution, the pH value is an appropriate example to explore what a student mathematical structure of logarithm is and how they interpret the proportional relationship of numbers for scientific explanation. To the end, students were asked to write their responses on a questionnaire that is composed of nine content domain questions and four affective domain questions. Data analysis of this study provides information for the relationship between student understanding of the pH value and related mathematics knowledge.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.33-52
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• 1997

We can explain open education by means of pulling down the straight and narrow viewpoint of our educational system. We should incorporate various thoughts and attempts to the most practical educational classrooms and learn to cope flexibly with the several educational problems. On the other hand, Britain for the last fifty years have adapted progressive method in most schools, but with no visible results. The children's fundamental mathematical abilities have not increased. Therefore, mathematical educators in U. S. and Britain proposed the following three facts: First, we need to find out precisely what is involved in applying mathematical skills to practical situations; Secondly, we need to find out why this kind of mathematical understanding is so difficult for so many children; And, finally, we need to know what methods can be used to help children attain this wider mathematical understanding. Thus, we have analyzed and studied the British primary mathematics textbooks < stage 1 >, < stage 3 >, < stage 4 > and < stage 5 > from the open educational viewpoint and the above proposals. As result, a central point was that British have well incorporated into their primary mathematics textbooks with the variety of programs using everyday problems.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1065-1071
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• 2007

It has been known that Asian Medicine theory are based on yin and yang & Five Phases. but recently many therapist using asian medicine in Korea or another nations, take up the position that it is not inevitable for them to adopt the theory of yin-and-yang & Five Phases when they cure a patient. but the point of this view suggests they can not understand totally the real theory about yin-and-yang & Five Phases. asian image-mathematics based on I-Ching could analysis all things with the natural number. the kernel of understanding on principle of I-Ching is realizing that the standard should be changed in some conditions and the form of cosmos should change endless. the system of all thing under sun is divided in three parts on the asian image-mathematics. the nature number from one to nine is divided in three categories that are grouped as 123, 456, 789. So, if we want to understand Five Phases theory, we suggest that it is useful to know the organic connected relations among Four Images, Five Phases, Six Qi(six kinds of weather). the aim of this paper is to arrive at understanding of profound learning on image-mathematics throughout the number of 4, 5, 6 in the concrete context.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.23-48
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• 2007

This study begins from posing a problem, 'formal introduction of mathematical induction in school mathematics'. Most students may learn the mathematical induction at the level of instrumental understanding without meaningful understanding about its meaning and structure. To improve this didactical situation, we research on the historical progress of mathematical induction from implicit use in greek mathematics to formalization by Pascal and Fermat. And we identify various types of thinking included in the developmental process: recursion, regression, analytic thinking, synthetic thinking. In special, we focused on the role of regression in mathematical induction, and then from that role we induce the implications for teaching mathematical induction in school mathematics.

• School Mathematics
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.79-95
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• 2002

This paper is to make strides toward an enriched understanding of student learning and performance in mathematics that acknowledges the roles social and cultural contexts play in what students learn as well as what we are able to team about student learning. A student's mathematical practice over a year and a half is presented in detail in order to explore the relationships between classroom contexts and student performance. This study was situated at a K-4 urban elementary school in the United States. The data used for this study included classroom observations, interviews with the teachers and the student, and document collection. The data were analyzed by characterizing each classroom context and exploring the student's practice both in the classrooms and in the interviews. Despite the student's ongoing status as a struggling student, there were tremendous changes in his level of engagement in and persistence with mathematical tasks. The student was substantially more engaged in and enthusiastic about the daily mathematics lessons in third grade than he had been in second. However, we found little improvement in his mathematical understanding and performance during class or in the interviews. This highlights that increased engagement in the mathematical tasks does not necessarily signal increased learning. This paper discusses several issues of learning and performance raised by the student, looking at the relationship between classroom context and student performance. This paper also considers implications for how students' performances are interpreted and how learning is assessed.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.157-173
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• 2024

Researchers continue to emphasize the centrality of proof in the context of school mathematics and the importance of proof to student learning of mathematics is well articulated in nationwide curricula. However, researchers reported that students' performance in proving tasks is not promising and students are not likely to see the need to prove a proposition even if they learned mathematical proof previously. Research attributes this issue to students' tendencies to accept an empirical argument as proof for a mathematical proposition, thus not being able to recognize the limitation of an empirical argument as proof for a mathematical proposition. In Korea, there is little research that investigated high school students' views about the need for proof in mathematics and their understanding of the limitation of an empirical argument as proof for a mathematical generalization. Sixty-two 11^th graders were invited to participate in an online survey and the responses were recorded in writing and on either a four- or five-point Likert scale. The students were asked to express their agreement with the need of proof in school mathematics and to evaluate a set of mathematical arguments as to whether the given arguments were proofs. Results indicate that a slight majority of students were able to identify a proof amongst the given arguments with the vast majority of students acknowledging the need for proof in mathematics.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.595-608
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to address the teachers' knowledge bases for effective mathematics teaching and especially to provide the various definitions and the structures of mathematics knowledge which is the most important one of the knowledge bases. The conceptual understanding about teachers' knowledge bases for effective mathematics teaching and the structure of mathematics knowledge may be used in evaluating effective mathematics teaching and teachers as well as in developing a new conceptual framework for the structure of mathematical knowledge.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.115-132
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• 2020

Social awareness of mathematics and academic attitudes toward the value of mathematics education has kept changing according to the intellectual, political and religious contexts. In this article, we examine how mathematics was defined and recognized in liberal arts education of the Roman Empire and early medieval Western Europe. This study analyzes how mathematics was described in encyclopedic works written in the Roman era after the mid-second century BC and in the Western European monasteries and cathedral schools after the fifth century. Ancient Greek mathematics took a clear place in liberal arts education through encyclopedia writings and prepared a mathematics curriculum for medieval universities. I hope this study will contribute to understanding the origin and context of the mathematics curriculum of medieval universities.

• Journal of applied mathematics & informatics
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• v.17 no.1_2_3
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• pp.719-736
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• 2005

An understanding of Fourier series and their generalization is important for physics and engineering students, as much for mathematical and physical insight as for applications. Students are usually confused by the so-called Gibbs' phenomenon, an overshoot between a discontinuous function and its approximation by a Fourier series as the number of terms in the series becomes indefinitely large. In this paper we give short story of Gibbs phenomenon in chronological order.